As with every Port Charlotte the starting point is rich, elegant and thought-provoking spirit. High-provenance, smoky, heavily peated barley married to our slow, Victorian, trickle distillation delivers power with finesse. Here, this fascinating spirit has been matured full term in casks of finest French oak [Quercus robur]. They previously held one of the greatest Eau de Vie, from the western Cognac region.
Bruichladdich Distillery
I do whisky sample swaps with whisky folks on Twitter, and quite often i find it difficult to decide on which sample i should enjoy and review next. So i posted a poll on Twitter of 4 whiskies i had taken from my samples draw, i’d numbered them from 1-4 and asked Twitter folk to pick one for me.
This was the third choice from my 24hr poll, a dram very kindly sent to me by Chris, a Twitter whisky friend (a button to follow Chris on Twitter can be found at the bottom of this review).
Appearance
Damp straw in colour here, with a nice syrupy thick swirl line that beads up straight away and drops quick thick legs.
Nose
Wow, that’s some nose ooosh, and first off I get Germoline with a menthol edge. A faint aroma of lemon bon bons, apricots, cooked bacon and BBQ sauce. The French oak comes through well, but isn’t overpowering, it’s a fresh sawdust kind of aroma.
More time reveals vanilla pastries, and I’m getting red berries, puts me in mind of a red berry strudel with vanilla custard poured over half of it.
Palate
We have a good mouthfeel here, and the palate is more flavourful than the nose suggested. First off, it’s super peated and quite spicy, the French oak has been very active.
Lemon sherbet sweets, red apple skin, the apricots are here with a touch of pineapple. The Germoline comes through nicely, and with time the spice builds up even more.
Lemon sherbet sweets, red apple skin, the apricots are here with a touch of pineapple. The Germoline comes through nicely, and with time the spice builds up even more.
Finish
Quite a long lingering finish, the mouth feels spicy all the way through, cinnamon, ginger, anise, vanilla, and liquorice.
My thoughts
My experience so far with Port Charlotte whiskies has been more than positive, they’ve become a firm favourite with me. So I had high expectations for this bottling.
After pouring and letting it sit for a while the first aromas were a little disappointing tbh, it didn’t follow in the footsteps of its predecessors, much to my surprise. Aromas did come, but it took time, not the “Port Charlotte” way I’d come to know.
The palate is a little more pronounced than the nose for me, the French oak had left a firm stamp of spiciness on it, but again other flavours took time to come to the fore. For me it’s very different to others I’d tried, and I’m on the fence as to whether I’d buy a bottle, unusual for me, probably not helped by the £80ish price tag to be honest.
Notes – This whisky is natural in colour and is non chill filtered and bottled at natural cask strength.
Thanks to Chris for the sample, follow him on Twitter here ⬇
Follow @chris_f74 Follow @thewhiskeychaps
